I'm writing to your message board because your group appears to be the best informed and interested in the complex relationships of MO residents along the border areas. My cousin and I are researching Pvt. Marcus Langley of Hurly, Stone Co. MO. His wife (part of our family group) was from Carroll Co. AR and at some point her family moved to Stone Co. after the start of the War. According to online Civil War soldier databases, Pvt. Langley is listed as a deserter who was hanged by bushwhackers in Carroll Co. on 2 March 1863. We thought that was the sad end of his story. More research revealed his widow received a Union Widow's pension. That seemed odd, so we obtained the records for her pension hearing. According to the deposition of his commanding officer, Capt. T.B. Youngblood, beginning in January of 1863 for about two months, Co. K was to act as scouts and guides for General Schofield. Pvt. Langley was one of the young men Capt. Youngblood sent across enemy lines as a spy. Pvt. Langley and another member of Co. K were hanged on the same day. Another disposition was by Jesse O'Neal of Carroll Co. who attested that he saw Langley's body and that he knew the young man. In the Carroll Co. AR Historical Society Journal dated Winter 1993, there is an article about two skirmishes near the O'Neal farm. The first was on 15 November 1862 when Co. G and K escorted Unionist families to Greene County, MO when they were met by a Confederate Unit. and on 16 April 1863 when the same companies were attacked by 700 Confederates when they returned to the area to escort more families. Pvt. Langley was killed in the period between these two events. Two summers ago, my cousin and I visited the Carroll Co. Historical Society in Berryville where we gave them the information we found. Incredibly, the person who directs the historical library is a direct descendent of Capt. Youngblood and she is familiar with his Union record. She told us it is a project of the Carroll Co. Historical Society to document each member of Co. K with a marker. Last summer we met direct descendants of Langley's younger brother who still live in Stone County. We also have been told there are likely places where Langley may have been hanged on the O'Neal property. I read on this message board where bones still show up near the Pea Ridge Battlefield and that made us wonder if maybe some remains may still exist. My cousin and I don't live nearby and we don't want to put anyone off or to offend anyone. There is a direct male descendant of Pvt. Langley's younger brother living in Stone Co. and he is willing to give DNA if we found any human remains. Is this even realistic and how would we go about looking? Are there any groups or persons interested in trying to find out this mystery? Thank you for any help.